Isabela & Fernandina Islands
We spent the day today in the western realm of Galápagos, where the Islands are young and still volcanically active. Indeed, as the sun rose and a dense fog burned off, the silhouettes of the shield volcanoes of Wolf and Ecuador where the first scene we admired. Not more than fifteen minutes after my discrete, optional wake up call, I was inspired to quietly wake the entire ship; I spotted a huge pod of common dolphins over a mile ahead and Fernando, the Officer on duty willingly turned north towards them for us.
We had a great show! The dolphins leapt and splashed and dove just off our bow and we yelled in delight and snapped countless photos. After breakfast we crossed the equator, counting down with the Captain as the GPS clicked towards all zeros, and then doing the limbo under a banner on the decks forward of the bridge. A Zodiac cruise along the spectacular shore line at Punta Vicente Roca was our next activity and we enjoyed seeing sea turtles, flightless cormorants, marine iguanas and both sea lions and fur seals from these comfortable and maneuverable boats.
In the late morning we wiggled into our wet suits and boarded the rubber boats again for a snorkeling outing. Fantastic! We counted nearly a dozen sea turtles and could get close enough to watch them feed on algae growing underwater on the rocks. I could determine their sex and whether they were adult or juvenile by their size and the length of their tails, and censused and recorded this data for the Charles Darwin Research Station. Some of us followed a fast moving cormorant which paddled vigorously with double kicks of its large webbed feet and dove to the bottom where it searched around the rocks for prey. A few very friendly sea lions gracefully twirled and swirled among us and thrilled us with both their cheekiness and their playfulness.
Following lunch, a siesta, and an interesting talk on Geology given by Naturalist Aura, we disembarked at Punta Espinoza on the northeastern point of Fernandina Island. Fernandina is the second most active volcano in the world and at the moment, on its south western flanks the lava is still cooling. Fernandina erupted for 20 days between April 10 and 30; I had the luck to travel to the eruption site three times with the Lindblad groups who were on the NG Islander during those weeks! The island is beautiful, with its rugged lava shores, green mangroves and small sandy beaches where marine iguanas nest in the shadows of the single, huge, volcanic crater. We found piles of marine iguanas along our afternoon walk, and other highlights were a great blue heron, mating Sally light foot crabs, a couple endemic Galápagos snakes, nesting flightless cormorants and of course the entertaining and ever present Galápagos sea lions.
As the sun set in a ball of orange behind the volcano, we motored slowly back to the ship. The wind was up and we appreciated the care with which our pangueros moved along, very gradually and cautiously, trying to keep us dry. What a full and wonderful day we’ve had. We are looking forward to whatever the Galápagos has to show us tomorrow!
We spent the day today in the western realm of Galápagos, where the Islands are young and still volcanically active. Indeed, as the sun rose and a dense fog burned off, the silhouettes of the shield volcanoes of Wolf and Ecuador where the first scene we admired. Not more than fifteen minutes after my discrete, optional wake up call, I was inspired to quietly wake the entire ship; I spotted a huge pod of common dolphins over a mile ahead and Fernando, the Officer on duty willingly turned north towards them for us.
We had a great show! The dolphins leapt and splashed and dove just off our bow and we yelled in delight and snapped countless photos. After breakfast we crossed the equator, counting down with the Captain as the GPS clicked towards all zeros, and then doing the limbo under a banner on the decks forward of the bridge. A Zodiac cruise along the spectacular shore line at Punta Vicente Roca was our next activity and we enjoyed seeing sea turtles, flightless cormorants, marine iguanas and both sea lions and fur seals from these comfortable and maneuverable boats.
In the late morning we wiggled into our wet suits and boarded the rubber boats again for a snorkeling outing. Fantastic! We counted nearly a dozen sea turtles and could get close enough to watch them feed on algae growing underwater on the rocks. I could determine their sex and whether they were adult or juvenile by their size and the length of their tails, and censused and recorded this data for the Charles Darwin Research Station. Some of us followed a fast moving cormorant which paddled vigorously with double kicks of its large webbed feet and dove to the bottom where it searched around the rocks for prey. A few very friendly sea lions gracefully twirled and swirled among us and thrilled us with both their cheekiness and their playfulness.
Following lunch, a siesta, and an interesting talk on Geology given by Naturalist Aura, we disembarked at Punta Espinoza on the northeastern point of Fernandina Island. Fernandina is the second most active volcano in the world and at the moment, on its south western flanks the lava is still cooling. Fernandina erupted for 20 days between April 10 and 30; I had the luck to travel to the eruption site three times with the Lindblad groups who were on the NG Islander during those weeks! The island is beautiful, with its rugged lava shores, green mangroves and small sandy beaches where marine iguanas nest in the shadows of the single, huge, volcanic crater. We found piles of marine iguanas along our afternoon walk, and other highlights were a great blue heron, mating Sally light foot crabs, a couple endemic Galápagos snakes, nesting flightless cormorants and of course the entertaining and ever present Galápagos sea lions.
As the sun set in a ball of orange behind the volcano, we motored slowly back to the ship. The wind was up and we appreciated the care with which our pangueros moved along, very gradually and cautiously, trying to keep us dry. What a full and wonderful day we’ve had. We are looking forward to whatever the Galápagos has to show us tomorrow!
